A close up photograph of the motor vessel Ken Tide and motor vessel Louie Tide listing into each other, Thursday, Oct. 31, approximately two miles offshore and south of Mansfield Jetties. U.S. Coast Guard Photo
The tow of two aging offshore supply vessels took a turn for the worse Thursday when the two vessels apparently started smashing into each other, causing one of the vessels to list into the other.
The U.S. Coast Guard says it was alerted by the captain of the towing vessel at approximately 8 a.m. Thursday requesting assistance as one of the vessels was listing heavily into the other about 2 miles offshore and South of the Mansfield Jetties.
The vessels, both Offshore Supply Vessels, were being towed, apparently side-by-side, from Louisiana to the scrap yard in Brownsville when they started ramming into each other. Correction: A tandem tow would imply one vessel after the other, which actually doesn’t seem to have ever been the case here.
The vessel names are Ken Tide and Louie Tide and both measure about 200-feet in length. There are currently no persons onboard either OSV, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard said that the owner of the vessels has been notified and has reported that neither vessel has an oil supply onboard that could pose a pollution risk to the environment, but Coast Guard pollution response personnel are on-scene investigating.
The name of the towing vessel has not been released in the Coast Guard report.
Sign up for gCaptain’s newsletter and never miss an update
Essential maritime and offshore news, insights, and updates delivered daily straight to your inbox
ABS Wavesight hosts Global Vision and Value Summit 2025, showcasing the power of one and its newest wave of innovative products ABS Wavesight™, the ABS-affiliated software-as-a-service (SaaS) company, brought together...
Six months into Donald Trump’s trade war, the resilience of Chinese exports is proving just how essential many of its products remain even after US levies of 55%. Every day, about a billion dollars worth of goods is crossing the Pacific from China to the US, with the amount ticking up in September from August. Despite double-digit drops in the value of overall trade during the past half a year, some products have recently seen an increase from 2024, defying trade strains between Beijing and Washington.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil companies on October 22, targeting Rosneft and Lukoil in response to Moscow’s continued refusal to pursue peace...
Subscribe to gCaptain Daily and stay informed with the latest global maritime and offshore news
Essential news coupled with the finest maritime content sourced from across the globe.
Sign Up
Join The Club
